Leave No One Behind

Back in November, the news first broke that an Oklahoma City high school was in danger of graduating only 20 members of its senior class of just more than 100.

Although it was in a poorer neighborhood, low student achievement didn't account for the majority of the problem. Over the course of several years, staff at the school had not kept up with where their students were in relationship to statewide graduation requirements. Students had not taken enough courses and had not completed required courses in time, so only 20 members of the class of 2013 were on track to graduate with their class in May. The rest faced either several more months, perhaps even another year, of coursework before they could reach the minimum standards to receive their diplomas. The cold reality was that many of them might not come back for that year, not deeming the diploma worth that effort -- many of their peers had dropped out before completing high school, so what would be the point.

A new principal replaced the one under whose watch the problems grew and dedicated herself and the staff to the extra hours, extra work and long hard grind to enable as many students as possible to make up the missing work in the six months remaining before commencement. What would have been just a twenty-person graduating class at Douglass High School will instead on Saturday be ninety-one strong. Five more will graduate after summer school.

That's a result -- and an effort -- that the school's namesake would probably like very much.